Golf practicing device

ABSTRACT

A golf practicing device having a flexible back drop member formed of carpeting material; a self supporting frame arranged to avoid tilting; a ball receiving receptacle functioning in the nature of a target; a rim-type mounting arrangement with a substantially straight portion flush with the front face of the back drop for the receptacle to reduce to a minimum any undesirable ball deflection occurrences; a trough formed in the back drop for trapping aberrant golf balls.

United States Patent 1 1 Pieronek 1451 Sept. 11, 1973 GOLF PRACTICING DEVICE [76] Inventor: Julius J. Pieronek, 3300-99th St.,

Kenosha, Wis. 53140 [22] Filed: Mar. 27, 1972 [2]] Appl. N0.: 238,171

[52] US. Cl. 273/181 A, 273/105 R [51] Int. Cl A63b 69/36 [58] Field of Search 273/181, 182, 105, 273/184, 185, 26 A, 176

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS D222,978 2/1972 Vinas 273/105 R 2,455,185 1l/1948 May 273/181 A X 921,366 5/1909 Conolly 273/105 R X 12/1940 Hines 273/105 R 5/1962 Johnston 273/105 R Primary Examiner-Gcorge J. Marlo AltorneyAlbert Latta [57] ABSTRACT A golf practicing device having a flexible back drop member formed of carpeting material; a self supporting frame arranged to avoid tilting; a ball receiving receptacle functioning in the nature of a target; a rim-type mounting arrangement with a substantially straight portion flush with the front face of the back drop for the receptacle to reduce to a minimum any undesirable ball deflection occurrences; a trough formed in the back drop for trapping aberrant golf balls.

9 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures 1 GOLF PRACTICING DEVICE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention A golf practicing device for improving a golfers ability to control the line of flight of a short range golf shotsuch as a chip shot or a pitch shot and a device for providing entertainment.

2. Description of the Prior Art The known prior art includes many golf practicing devices in which a target is provided for the golfer to shoot at and a backdrop is provided for stopping the flight of the ball if the target is missed. Some of the devices include ball trapping devices and ball return de vices after a golf shot has been made. Some of the devices provide multiple targets to aim for.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an improved golf practicing and entertainment device.

It is an object of the invention to provide in a golf practicing device a frame arranged to cause the flexible back drop to hang in a desired plane which will reduce the tendency of the frame from tilting on golf ball impact and at the same time accomplish the desired angle of deflection of the ball after it has struck the back drop.

It is another object of the invention to provide a flexible back drop formed of material which will quickly absorb the energy of a traveling golf ball on impact, whereby the ball is deflected immediately downwardly at an angle which approaches parallelism with the plane of the back drop.

Another object of the invention is to provide a receptacle removably attached to the backdrop in a manner in which the rear supporting cross member of the receptacle is arranged in a substantially straight line so as to lie flush against the backdrop, thereby reducing to a minimum the possibility of undesirable ball deflection when the ball occasionally engages the cross member and to prevent the possibility of the ball going behind the receptacle.

Another object of the invention is to provide a flexible back drop with an uninterrupted surface and a receptacle removably secured thereto so that the mouth portion of the receptacle protrudes outwardly from the face of the back drop and is not flush with the face of the back drop.

Another object of the invention is to provide in combination with a flexible back drop a receptacle having a rigid supporting rim which is inclined downwardly and forwardly from the face of the back drop.

A further object of the invention is to provide a golf practicing device including. a frame with a forwardly disposed cross member which is spaced from the floor and to which the lower margin of the backdrop is secured, the upper margin of the back drop being secured to an upper member of the frame, whereby the backdrop hangs freely from the upper member and a trough is formed in the lower region of the back drop for ball trapping purposes the underside of the trough being preferably spaced slightly from the floor on which the frame rests.

A further object of the invention is to provide in a golf practicing device a frame which is constructed for rapid assembly and disassembly and for convenient packaging for shipping purposes.

A further object of the invention is to provide a golf practicing device in which the back drop hangs in a manner to be free of wrinkles.

A further object of the invention is to provide a flexible back drop of suitable material and of sufficient surface area to assure rapid energy absorption of the traveling ball on impact.

A further object of the invention is to provide a frame constructed of tubing in which a novel dowel is provided for rapid connecting of adjacent tubing ends and so as to assure a snug and not too easily disconnectible joint between adjacent tubing ends.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following specification and accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the golf practicing device mounted on a floor certain areas being broken in section.

FIG. 2 is a side elevational sectional view taken generally on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional detail perspective view of one of the joints at which adjacent tubing ends are removably connected together.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional detail plan view of the receptacle fastened to the back drop.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional detail view showing the back drop as fastened to the upper cross member of the frame.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional detail perspective view of a portion of the upper end of the receptacle as fastened to the back drop the fastener being shown in exploded fashion.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged detail sectional view of a modifled form of connection of adjacent ends of tubing sections.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG. 1 I have shown my golf practicing device in perspective and it includes in general a frame A, a flexible back drop B and a receptacle C.

The frame is preferably formed of suitable tubing such as aluminum, steel or an acceptable synthetic resin having sufficient strength to support the back drop without encountering sagging of the upper cross member 2. The upper cross member is in the form of a continuous section of tubing bent downwardly at each end at 3 and 4. The side legs 5 and 6 are inclined slightly forwardly from the vertical as viewed in FIG. 2 and the floor engaging legs 7 and 8 project forwardly from the respective side legs and are preferably arcuately formed (as at 9 in FIG. 2) to provide the floor engaging areas 10, l1, l2 and 13. Thus the overall frame rests on the floor surface 14 at four spaced points to allow for irregularities in the floor surface. The result is that the overall frame structure rests on the floor surface in a manner to substantially eliminate wobbling thereof.

The floor engaging tubing sections 7 and 8 may be formed of separate sections of tubing bent upwardly respectively at 15, 16, 17 and 18 to abut the lower ends of side legs 5 and 6 and the end portions 19 and 20 of the cross member 21 (which can also be of tubing). Where the ends of the cross member abut the floor engaging leg ends and where the ends of the floor engaging members 7 and 8 abut the lower ends of the side legs 5 and 6 and where the ends of the upper cross member 2 abut the upper ends of the side legs, dowel pins 22 can be employed (as shown in detail in FIG. 3). Thus all of the tubing sections are removably but snuggly fastened together to form a unitary frame structure which will not become disassembled when the golf practice device is in use.

The dowel pin 22 is of unique and novel structure and consists of a length of substantially cylindrical shaped rod such as would be cut to desired length from commercially available wood dowelling rods. A slot 23 would be cut in the end of the dowel pin and a second slot 24 would be cut in the other end of the dowel pin similar to slot 23. The slots may be cut with a bandsaw or by any other suitable method and the inner end of slot 23 terminates short of the inner terminal end of slot 24 forminga solid central portion in the pin. The slots are preferably situated so that one slot is 90 degrees offset relative to the other slot, each slot being substantially along the axial center line of the dowel pin 22. The ends of the pin are squeezed manually to reduce the outside diameter thereof for easy insertion into a tube end, then the tube ends are brought into abutment with each other and the central portion of the pin has an interference fit with the inside diameter of the tube sections whereby a snug or pressed fit is obtained between adjacent tube ends and the central portion of the dowel pin and disassembly is somewhat difficult or of an impeding nature. For shipping purposes one end of a dowel pin would be inserted in one of each tubing sections before shipment and the customer would then insert the proper tubing section onto the remaining end of the dowel pin when assembling the frame into a unitary structure.

In FIG. 7 a modified form of joint is shown in which the end 26 of the dowel pin is inserted into the tubing end 27 and the tubing is crimped at 28, permanently securing the pin relative to the tubing. After shipment the customer inserts pin end 29 into the end of tubing end 30 and a cotter pin 31 is inserted through aligned holes in the tubing and pin and then the ends of the cotter pin are spread apart in a conventional manner. The outside diameter of the dowel pin need only have a moderatley snug or even a loose fit relative to the inside diameter of adjacent tubing ends. Disassembly is, of course, easily effected by removing the cotter pin.

The back drop B is formed of a suitable material such as conventional carpeting of a thickness of about inch to 3/16 inch. The carpeting can be of the type which is relatively inexpensive and commercially available such as a nylon tufted carpet with a rubberized or other suitable backing. The tufted face of the carpeting forms the front face of the back drop. The tufting could be of nylon or other suitable fiber and is preferably of the looped type but could be of the loose end type if desired.

The back drop has its upper margin fastened to cross member 2 and its lower margin fastened to cross member 21 and thus hangs sufficiently loosely and freely so as to permit formation of a trough 33 for ball trapping purposes. FIG. 2 shows in substantially the desired proportioning, the heighth of the frame; the length of the back drop; the span of the trough and the length of the floor engaging legs. FIG. 1 is intended to portray the overall golf practicing device without attempting to convey the proper proportioning of heighth, length and width thereof. In FIG. 2 the thickness of the back drop;

the diameter of the tubing forming the frame and the thickness of the material forming the receptacle are not to be considered proportioned relative to the actual life size model of the golf practicing device. A desirable life size model could be approximately 6' high and about 6' wide or even larger. Other life size models could vary in size but a model less than 2' high and 2' wide would not be considered feasible for the purposes intended for the device.

The back drop is preferably approximately rectangular in shape prior to assembly and the upper margin of the back drop is wrapped about the cross member 2 and overlaps upon itself to form in effect a hem 35 extending entirely across the back drop. The hem could be sewed or stapled so that the loop 36 encircling the cross member is snugly engaged with the cross member. This assures lack of formation of undesirable wrinkles in the front surface of the back drop and avoids undesirable angles of deflection of the golf ball after it strikes the front face of the back drop. The lower margin of the back drop would also be wrapped around the lower cross member 21 in the manner described with reference to the upper cross member and the snug engagement of the loop relative to the lower cross member (as described relative to the upper cross member) is obtained to assist in preventing the wrinkles heretofore referred to.

In FIG. 5 I have shown a preferred type of fastener which could be used in securing the upper and lower loop portions of the back drop to the respective cross members. There would be several of these fasteners employed at the upper and lower margins of the back drop and they would be spaced apart a substantially equal distance from each other across the length of each back drop loop portion surrounding the upper and lower cross members. I have only shown one representative fastener in FIG. 5. The fasteners would comprise a resilient ring-like member of resilient material (such as spring steel) having outwardly turned ends 37 and 38. In unflexed condition the inside diameter of each fastener would be less than as shown in FiG. 5 and the fasteners would be forced over the back drop loops by spreading the ends 37 and 38 apart, then upon releasing the spreading force, the ring-like fasteners would tightly engage the back drop loops and hold same snugly to the respective upper and lower cross members to achieve the substantially wrinkle-free back drop surface.

Referring to FIGS. 1, 2, 4 and 6 I have shown a preferred receptacle for use in conjunction with the back drop. In its preferred form it includes a supporting rim 40 formed generally in configuration shown best in FIG. 4. The rim is shown in cross section in FIG. 6. The rim may be formed of rigid minimum diameter wire, such as of steel (or other suitable material providing the desired strength is available to resist bending when struck by a traveling golf ball). The rim should also be sufficiently strong to resist downward deformation such as when a golf ball lands on the outermost and unsupported area of the rim, as indicated by the numeral 4) in FIGS. 1, 2 and 41. The rim may have a cross sectional diameter of A; inch or even less, depending upon the material used. The receptacle includes a pocket 42 which is closed except for the open mouth 43 formed at the upper end thereof where the supporting rim is located. The mouth has the configuration of the rim and is best shown in FIG. 4. The rim extends in a substantially straight line along its rear edge and may be generally arcuately shaped commencing from the opposite ends of the straight line portion, thereby projecting forwardly and outwardly preferably in excess of 2 inches or 3 inches from the front face of the back drop to provide an open mouth for golf ball entry purposes. The pocket may be formed of any suitable material, preferably flexible, so as to retain the golf ball after entry through the mouth. The pocket has a hem 44 wrapped around the rim (as best shown in FIG. 6) and fastened to the rim in any suitable manner throughout the peri 'leter of the rim. The bottom of the pocket is indicatedat 45 in FIGS. 2 and 4. The straight line portion of the rim with the pocket hem wrapped therearound lies substantially flush against the front face of the back drop to prevent any golf ball from passing behind the pocket between the face of the back drop and the rim and winding up in the trough 33. Additionally, the minimum diameter of the rim and its flush contact with the back drop reduces to a minimum any undesired deflection of the ball away from the interior of the pocket should the traveling ball strike the hem wrapped straight line portion of the rim.

I have found that the receptacle C can be adequately and removably fastened to the back drop by using two fasteners 47 and 48 of the type shown best in the partially exploded view of FIG. 6. The ends 48 and 49 of the fastener are squeezed toward each other; inserted through the openings 50 in the receptacle rim hem and then pushed manually through the back drop whereupon the fastener ends then open up in the manner shown in FIG. 4 and the heads 51 of the fasteners are urged against the rim hemand adequately hold the entire straight line portion of the hem wrapped rim snugly up against the face of the back drop. The fasteners are of a type commercially available. The receptacle can, of course, be adjusted to any pre-selected heighth on the back drop by withdrawing the fasteners and reinserting them at a new location on the back drop in the manner set forth immediately above.

Viewing FIG. 2 it will be noted that each of the side legs 5 and 6 (leg 6 not being shown) are inclined from the vertical, the upper ends being forwardly with reference to the lower ends. The back drop thus hangs from the upper cross member in a plane which is slightly inclined from the vertical due to the forward pull exerted on the back drop by the fastening of the lower margin of the back drop to the forwardly spaced lower cross member 211. The forward inclination of the legs 5 and 6 assist in preventing the device from tilting real-wardly when the traveling golf ball strikes the front face of the back drop. The weight of the back drop also assists in preventing such tilting, since the overall frame can be of light weight, thin walled tubing to cut manufacturing and shipping costs.

If desired the rim portion of the receptacle can tilt angularly downwardly from rear to front as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 thereby in effect increasing the overall area of the ball entry mouth formed by the rim and increasing the likelihood of direct entry of the ball into the interior of the pocket.

OPERATION In use of the golf practicing device a suitable mat, with bristles simulating mowed grass of a golf course fairway, is placed 10, 12', 15, 18' or any other desired distance directly in front of the front face of the back drop. Even a home type small throw rug of the type used for the back drop can be used as the golf ball mat. A golf ball is placed on the mat and the golfer selects a golf club he prefers for hitting chip shots such as a 6, 7, 8 or 9 iron or a pitching wedge. l-Ie strokes the ball toward the receptacle mouth hoping to land the ball directly into the interior of the pocket. If he succeeds, he will know that he has lined up the face of the golf club head properly to obtain the desired line of flight of the ball and the desired distance of the shot. If the ball misses the mouth of the receptacle and strikes the front face of the back. drop directly above the receptacle, the energy of the traveling ball will be quickly absorbed by the flexible back drop and the angle of deflection of the ball will be sharply downwardly and the ball will enter the receptacle mouth and be trapped in the interior of the receptacle. I have found that the ball can strike the back drop a foot or more above the mouth of the receptacle and will s ill be deflected sharply downwardly into the mouth of the receptacle. The golfer will know the line of flight of the ball was accurate but not the distance of travel.

I have found that the ball can travel at a high rate of speed, as when hit by a 5 or 6 iron, and when it strikes the back drop, it will be directed sharply downwardly and will end up in the receptacle or in the trough 33 and not be deflected onto the floor 14 (thus requiring unnecessary chasing for retrieval purposes). The energy absorption characteristics of a back drop made of carpeting material (as hereinbefore described) is extremely effective in causing a traveling golf ball to be instantly deflected downwardly at an angle approaching parallelism with the front face of the back drop, thereby assuring that the ball will end up in the trough 33 if the receptacle mouth is missed.

By using a device in which the back drop is about 6' wide and about 6 above floor level, a golf chip" shot will rarely ever miss the back drop entirely and the ball will be in the receptacle or in trough 33.

I claim:

l. A golf ball receiving practice device comprising a frame having an upright portion including spaced side legs; said frame including spaced floor engaging legs projecting each forwardly from a respective side leg and secured thereto; a first cross member formed at the upper end of the frame and interconnecting the side legs; a second cross member formed at the lower end of the frame and interconnecting the spaced floor engaging legs and situated forwardly with reference to the first cross member so as to be spaced a pre-determined distance ahead of the first cross member with reference to vertical planes drawn through the first and second cross members and thereby forming a self supporting frame; a sheet-like back drop formed of flexible carpeting material for absorbing the impact of a moving golf ball and rapidly slowing its speed of travel; a golf ball receiving receptacle having an open mouth at its upper end, said receptacle being attached to the face of the back drop which is exposed toward the floor engaging portion of the frame; said golf ball receiving receptacle including an elongated supporting member at the mouth area and lying substantially flush with the front surface of the back drop in a substantially straight line to prevent any tendency of the golf ball to lodge between the support member and the back drop; said back drop being attached at its lower end to the second cross member and hanging by gravity from the first cross member; said back drop being of a length with reference to the distance between the first cross member and second cross member whereby to form a trough for retaining a golf ball after it has struck the back drop in the area above the trough and has had its direction of travel deflected downwardly toward the floor surface; said second cross member being situated above and spaced from the surface of the floor upon which the floor engaging portion of the frame is situated, whereby the trough is formed in the lower area of the back drop nearest to the floor surface and the undetside of the trough portion of the back drop is spaced from and out of contact with the floor surface.

2. A golf practicing device as set forth in claim 1 wherein the side legs are inclined from the vertical so that the upper ends of the side legs lie in a vertical plane which is spaced forwardly with reference to a vertical plane drawn through the lower ends of the side legs.

3. A golf practicing device as set forth in claim 1 wherein the frame side legs and the first and second cross members and the floor engaging legs are tubular in cross section and are removably connected to each other.

4. A golf practicing device as set forth in claim 1 wherein the receptacle includes a supporting rim having a pocket formed of flexible material secured thereto, the rim being situated at the upper and mouth area of the receptacle and including as a part thereof, the elongated supporting member; the elongated supporting member extending in substantially a straight line and the remaining portion of the rim being bent so as to be spaced from the elongated straight portion, thereby forming a mouth area defining an arcuate loop in which the forward portion of the loop is spaced from the elongated supporting member portion a distance less than the length of the elongated supporting member portion.

5. A golf ball receiving device as set forth in claim 4 wherein the side edges of the carpeting are unattached to the side legs of the frame.

6. A golf practicing device asset forth in claim 4 wherein the ri rn is formed of resilient and rigid wire having a cross sectional diameter of less than 3/l6 inch.

7. A golf ball receiving device as set forth in claim 1 wherein each of the floor engaging legs has an undulated substantially central portion which is out of contact with the floor surface.

8. A golf practicing device as set forth in claim 1 wherein the back drop is formed of carpeting material having a thickness of more than A inch.

9. A golf ball receiving practice device comprising a frame including an upright portion including spaced side legs; said frame including spaced floor engaging legs projecting each forwardly from a respective side leg and secured thereto; a first cross member formed at the upper end of the frame and interconnecting the side legs at the upper ends thereof; a second cross member formed at the lower end of the frame and interconnecting the spaced floor engaging legs and situated forwardly with reference to the first cross member so as to be spaced a pre-determined distance ahead of the first cross member with reference to vertical planes drawn through the first and second cross members and thereby forming a self supporting frame; a sheet-like back drop formed of flexible carpeting material including a backing material and a tufted material secured to the backing material, such tufted material being exposed toward the front of the golf ball receiving practice device for absorbing the impact of a moving golf ball and rapidly slowing its speed of travel; a golf ball receiving receptacle having an open mouth at its upper end, said receptacle being attached to the tufted face of the carpeting material of the back drop; said golf ball receiving receptacle including an elongated supporting member at the mouth area and lying substantially flush with the front tufted surface of the back drop in a substantially straight line to prevent any tendency of a golf ball to lodge between the support member and the back drop; said back drop being attached at its lower end to the second cross member and hanging by gravity from the first cross member; said back drop being of a length with reference to the distance between the first cross member and second cross member whereby to form a trough for retaining a golf ball after it has struck the back drop in the area above the trough and has had its direction of travel deflected downwardly toward the floor surface; said second cross member being situated above the lowermost level of the floor engaging legs, whereby the trough is formed in the lower area of the back drop nearest to the floor surface and the underside of the trough portion of the back drop at its lowest level is above the lowermost level of the floor engaging legs so as to be spaced from the floor surface on which the floor engaging legs rest. 

1. A golf ball receiving practice device comprising a frame having an upright portion including spaced side legs; said frame including spaced floor engaging legs projecting each forwardly from a respective side leg and secured thereto; a first cross member formed at the upper end of the frame and interconnecting the side legs; a second cross member formed at the lower end of the frame and interconnecting the spaced floor engaging legs and situated forwardly with reference to the first cross member so as to be spaced a pre-determined distance ahead of the first cross member with reference to vertical planes drawn through the first and second cross members and thereby forming a self supporting frame; a sheet-like back drop formed of flexible carpeting material for absorbing the impact of a moving golf ball and rapidly slowing its speed of travel; a golf ball receiving receptacle having an open mouth at its upper end, said receptacle being attached to the face of the back drop which is exposed toward the floor engaging portion of the frame; said golf ball receiving receptacle including an elongated supporting member at the mouth area and lying substantially flush with the front surface of the back drop in a substantially straight line to prevent any tendency of the golf ball to lodge between the support member and the back drop; said back drop being attached at its lower end to the second cross member and hanging by gravity from the first cross member; said back drop being of a length with reference to the distance between the first cross member and second cross member whereby to form a trough for retaining a golf ball after it has struck the back drop in the area above the trough and has had its direction of travel deflected downwardly toward the floor surface; said second cross member being situated above and spaced from the surface of the floor upon which the floor engaging portion of the frame is situated, whereby the trough is formed in the lower area of the back drop nearest to the floor surface and the underside of the trough portion of the back drop is spaced from and out of contact with the floor surface.
 2. A golf practicing device as set forth in claim 1 wherein the side legs are inclined from the vertical so that the upper ends of the side legs lie in a vertical plane which is spaced forwardly with reference to a vertical plane drawn through the lower ends of the side legs.
 3. A golf practicing device as set forth in claim 1 wherein the frame side legs and the first and second cross members and the floor engaging legs are tubular in cross section and are removably connected to each other.
 4. A golf practicing device as set forth in claim 1 wherein the receptacle includes a supporting rim having a pocket formed of flexible material secured thereto, the rim being situated at the upper and mouth area of the receptacle and including as a part thereof, the elongated supporting member; the elongated supporting member extending in substantially a straight line and the remaining portion of the rim being bent so as to be spaced from the elongated straight portion, thereby forming a mouth area defining an arcuate loop in which the forward portion of the loop is spaced from the elongated supporting member portion a distance less than the length of the elongated supporting member portion.
 5. A golf ball receiving device as set forth in claim 4 wherein the side edges of the carpeting are unattached to the side legs of the frame.
 6. A golf practicing device as set forth in claim 4 wherein the rim is formed of resilient and rigid wire
 7. A golf ball receiving device as set forth in claim 1 wherein each of the floor engaging legs has an undulated substantially central portion which is out of contact with the floor surface.
 8. A golf practicing device as set forth in claim 1 wherein the back drop is formed of carpeting material having a thickness of more than 1/8 inch.
 9. A golf ball receiving practice device comprising a frame including an upriGht portion including spaced side legs; said frame including spaced floor engaging legs projecting each forwardly from a respective side leg and secured thereto; a first cross member formed at the upper end of the frame and interconnecting the side legs at the upper ends thereof; a second cross member formed at the lower end of the frame and interconnecting the spaced floor engaging legs and situated forwardly with reference to the first cross member so as to be spaced a pre-determined distance ahead of the first cross member with reference to vertical planes drawn through the first and second cross members and thereby forming a self supporting frame; a sheet-like back drop formed of flexible carpeting material including a backing material and a tufted material secured to the backing material, such tufted material being exposed toward the front of the golf ball receiving practice device for absorbing the impact of a moving golf ball and rapidly slowing its speed of travel; a golf ball receiving receptacle having an open mouth at its upper end, said receptacle being attached to the tufted face of the carpeting material of the back drop; said golf ball receiving receptacle including an elongated supporting member at the mouth area and lying substantially flush with the front tufted surface of the back drop in a substantially straight line to prevent any tendency of a golf ball to lodge between the support member and the back drop; said back drop being attached at its lower end to the second cross member and hanging by gravity from the first cross member; said back drop being of a length with reference to the distance between the first cross member and second cross member whereby to form a trough for retaining a golf ball after it has struck the back drop in the area above the trough and has had its direction of travel deflected downwardly toward the floor surface; said second cross member being situated above the lowermost level of the floor engaging legs, whereby the trough is formed in the lower area of the back drop nearest to the floor surface and the underside of the trough portion of the back drop at its lowest level is above the lowermost level of the floor engaging legs so as to be spaced from the floor surface on which the floor engaging legs rest. 